Training center will help changing job market

It's not a surprise that the way people get higher-paying jobs has changed throughout the years. For the most part, we no longer have the luxury of graduating high school and immediately joining a local manufacturer.

For decades, that is how people gained jobs in our area. They would make wages from $15 to $20 per hour with nothing more than a diploma, and, in some cases, without even graduating high school.

But today's work force is different. That is why the development of two new facilities by Zane State College is an important step for our future.

With these buildings --one in Zanesville and one in Cambridge -- the college is poised to prepare students for jobs in the science and technology fields. It's a natural progression for its own development as the college has always worked toward cultivating students ready to join the work force. It is changing with the job market. As more and more jobs require higher skill levels, the college has transformed to meet that demand.

It's a positive for the college, and the community.

As employers look for places to locate their businesses, one of the things they seek out is available workers. They want workers who can jump into a job immediately, with skills that fit their needs.

The Zanesville Advanced Science and Technology Center will be a 40,000-square-foot building, modeled after the Y Bridge. It will be located across Ohio 146 from Zane State, on land formerly occupied by the old Muskingum County Home. The two-story structure will offer science, alternative energy, engineering/information technology, general education and medical classes. The Cambridge campus building, the 37,000-square-foot Advanced Energy Training Facility, will be an addition to the Willett-Pratt Training Center. Each of the new building will accommodate an additional 500 students.

The combined $18 million project has long been a dream for Dr. Paul Brown, the president of Zane State. He's often referred to the project as a high-tech corridor. We believe it's a new lifeline for our area.

While Zane State has previous worked with employers, such as Avon, to help supply an educated and skilled workforce, the new centers will help education students for the jobs in demand today and into the future. They will also help us retain these knowledgeable individuals, who once had to leave the area to find employment, fulfilling yet another of Brown's goals for our students.

Zane State already is ahead of the curve on training individuals for the oil and gas industry. Some of the training began in 2010, because of the interest in the shale-related work. Currently those individuals completing the courseware are finding employment in West Virginia or Pennsylvania, but experts have said it's only a matter of time until our area experiences the same type of boom. And we'll be ready, thanks to the forward thinking of Brown and Zane State College Foundation Board of Directors.

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Training center will help changing job market

It's not a surprise that the way people get higher-paying jobs has changed throughout the years. For the most part, we no longer have the luxury of graduating high school and immediately joining a